Senator ELLISON (Minister for Justice and Customs) (1:48 PM)
—Law enforcement needs the flexibility to have a warrant that says you can use a surveillance device. If you have a warrant that specifies the number of devices that have to be employed and you get out into the field and find you need six and you have a warrant for only four, then you would have to go back and get that warrant amended. In the early stages of law enforcement surveillance operations it is simply not possible to state with any certainty the number or types of surveillance devices needed. For that reason we oppose the Democrat amendments. We believe that the regime that is in place offers sufficient accountability. Once you agree with the principle that there should be a surveillance device used in an operation and you have gone through that process then the number and type, especially the number, should be left to law enforcement.